LBW

Thursday, 3 March 2016

Nigerian Causes Stir On London Plane!

Armed police remove Londoner from flight after ‘he sent prayer group message’

A Londoner was pulled off a flight by armed police (Picture: Getty) A passenger on an easyJet flight apparently misread Londoner Laolu Opebiyi’s Christian prayer group name on WhatsApp, ‘ISI men’, as being about ISIS, leading the pilot to summon armed police to the plane.

Mr Opebiyi was using WhatsApp to arrange a conference call prayer session with friends while waiting for his Amsterdam-bound flight to take off from Luton Airport. The Nigerian-born Christian told The Guardian he believes the passenger next to him assumed he was a Muslim and jumped to the conclusion that he may be a terrorist.

Mr Opebiyi was pulled off the flight by two firearms officers, questioned extensively about his faith, and forced to hand over his phone. The 40-year-old business analyst was released and finally managed to get a flight to Holland around three hours after he was originally supposed to flown. Mr Opebiyi said: “That guy doesn’t know me and within two minutes he’s judging me. “Even if I was a Muslim, it was pretty unfair the way I was treated. I don’t think anyone, irrespective of their religion should be treated in such a way. “If we keep on giving into this kind of bigotry and irrational fear, I dare say that the terrorists will have achieved their aim.” A Bedfordshire Police spokesperson commented: “Officers attended and a passenger was removed from the flight as part of the enquiries. “Officers notified easyJet that they were satisfied that there was no concern around the passenger travelling.” An easyJet spokesman said: “The safety and security of its passengers and crew is our highest priority which means that if a security concern is raised we will always investigate it as a precautionary measure. “We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to the passenger.”